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Dominic Raiola

A Q&A ON RETIREMENT AND LIFE AFTER THE GAME

February 2018

Dominic Raiola is a 14-year NFL vet who spent all 14 years as a Center with the Detroit Lions. His time in Detroit helped him establish some music connections that he's leveraging for his 2nd career.

Q. What was it like having a 14-year career and playing for only one team?

I was born and raised in Hawaii, and I learned loyalty growing up there. Continuity was a strong part of my upbringing. I always worked out at the same gym in high school, at Nebraska I played for a coach who had been there for 20 years. I’m not a big fan of change.

With the Lions organization, when I first got drafted, there was no direction, and they went through an overhaul. After the first six years there was another overhaul. I told myself at that time, ‘If you wanted to you could get up and leave and go win somewhere else.’ But then I thought to myself, ‘why don’t you make the team that took the chance on you, and drafted you, better?’

“Why don’t you make the team that took the chance on you and drafted you better?”

I never hit free agency, I overcame 6 head coaches. Every time a head coach comes in you have to prove yourself again to each guy. I can hang my hat on who I am as a person, because of playing in Detroit. One year the team was 0-16 and the city of Detroit was in a major depression. I can identify with the city and I believe I have become a Detroiter. That’s home and that is the culture. The way people see the Lions now, I feel as if I were a part of the change in culture there.

Q: When contemplating retirement, what questions were going through your mind? Who did you turn to for answers?

I think it was just after our playoff game {in 2014}, I knew my time was getting close. Ultimately my time was up. I was blessed to play fourteen years in the league – For us that is an eternity.

But, at the time the player in you still thinks they can play. My contract was up, they brought me in and said they weren’t going to bring me back. I continued to train and got a couple of calls from a few teams. However, nothing really worked out before the season, and then nothing worked out during the season.

I said to myself, ‘It’s been an honor and a blessing to play for one team and be as healthy as I had been.’ I didn’t want to pack up and play half a season somewhere else, at this point I was thirty-six years old. I decided it was time to hang them up.

“I said to myself, ‘It’s been an honor and a blessing to play for one team and be as healthy as I had been.’”

Q. Whom have you turned to for support and guidance during your transition?

My wife has been a huge help for me. My family. They have always treated me as myself and not just a football player. My wife has always supported everything I have done.

Q. How has your relationship with your family changed since you left the league?

I would say it’s changed a lot, especially with my kids. I get to go to all of their games, I get to pick up that lost time with them – I get to be home every day. I’m visible I’m there to help out.

Being there for my wife, being another support system in our family. Being there for her is really important to me.

My kids all play sports, so I can share the mental aspect of it with them. My daughter plays highly competitive volleyball and she’s starting to get recruited, so I can share experiences of what I have been through of how to work or how to compare since I’ve been in her position getting recruited by colleges.

My kids all play sports, so I can share the mental aspect of it with them.

Q. What have you done since leaving the league?

First, I started a CryoSpa business in Detroit. You see all of these high-profile athletes jumping in on these cryo saunas. I believe in recovery wholeheartedly. To play as many years as I did, I had to take care of my body. That was a part of my recovery, so I started the company called CryoSpa Detroit in Michigan.

I have also been involved in music. Music has meant so much to me, whether it was after a bad day, or getting hype for a game, or dancing around the house with the kids – Music has been a large part of my life.

One day I was getting a haircut and the guy after me was getting a haircut at my barber. He said, ‘You know a lot of people, don’t you?,’ and I said, ‘Yeah I know Kid Rock, and I know Eminem’s producer.’ So, he said, ‘You have to see this kid.’ And he facetimed me this kid who turned out to be Privlege.

This kid walked out of a restaurant and right in front of a dumpster, like something out of ‘8 Mile,’ he performed a song for me. I said man I have to get this kid in a studio. I know too many people here and I love music it’s a passion for me.

We just kind of went from there. We started in a basement studio and then I paid for some studio time. I thought to myself, ‘I still have a name, I’m still relevant here, I should start a record label.’ I started Fifty1 records. Which is pretty cool because that was my number when I played and now I’m able to help carry that number on.

I still have a name, I’m still relevant here, I should start a record label. I started Fifty1 records.

Music moved me, and I decided to do something with it. {Privlege} has been incarcerated since he was 18 and now he’s 23. For me to be a mentor to not only my kids, but also be a mentor to this kid. It’s been a fun ride so far and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Q. What brought you to The Trust?

I know the NFL family and the PA is strong. For a former player you go through a transition stage where you go from feeling on top of the world to feeling like you have nothing. I think anything you have, any endeavors you want to tackle, {The Trust} is there to listen to you and help you with whatever ideas you have. It isn’t just one thing, {The Trust} is there for you in all aspects of life. So why wouldn’t you take their help?

It isn’t just one thing, {The Trust} is there for you in all aspects of life.

Q: Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently during your transition out of the league?

When you’re in, it’s all good. It is a privilege to play. Some players nowadays think it’s a right. But, it’s a privilege and when you’re out you appreciate it that much more.

When you are in the league playing, give it the respect it deserves. When you are out, I see a lot of guys so desperate to get back in, but they didn’t give it the respect it deserved when they were in it. Playing is a privilege not a right.

Q: What is your proudest moment from your days playing football?

Taking an 0-16 team and then being on a team that went to the playoffs in 2011. That’s a tough turnaround. We didn’t win the game, but being on the field that day, was a proud moment. It was a tough transition, but for an on-the-field moment, that was my proudest moment.

Q: What's been your proudest moment since leaving football?

I can be at all of my kid’s games and all of their activities. I get to drop them off at school in the morning. It may not seem like a lot, but that’s important to me.